Barb Lien-Cooper & Park Cooper

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  • “A Little Witch in Every Woman” — A Dark Shadows Story

    “A Little Witch in Every Woman” — A Dark Shadows Story

    In the great house of Collinwood, in the study, Julia Hoffman sat reading a book. It was a psychiatric book about new techniques in group therapy for which she’d promised to write a review for a scholarly journal.

    She had trouble keeping her mind on it, though. Its language was no more dry and academic than any other book of its type—perhaps a little better, really—but even though there was a pleasant fire burning in the study’s fireplace, the wind was blowing just enough that the sound of the phenomenon called “The Widows” was occasionally happening.

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  • Fiction: A Hungry Ghosts story: “The Well” –THE CONCLUSION (part 2 of 2)

    Fiction: A Hungry Ghosts story: “The Well” –THE CONCLUSION (part 2 of 2)

    (Note: Here’s the rest of the Hungry Ghosts short story from two weeks ago!

    If you missed reading the first half two weeks ago, go here and read it now!

    Fiction: A Hungry Ghosts story: “The Well” PART ONE (of two)

    Okay, so now, here’s the conclusion (read below)! )

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    “I tried to see Tokubei, but he was off inspecting his lands and attending to business,” said Eisai-sama. “So I asked to see Osono. I was told that she would not see me. So, I asked to see her father, a man named Mosaku. I was led to his quarters… I was surprised to see prayer sutras all over his room… and he looked scared of something. When he found out that I was a monk and that I had seen a face in the well water, he begged me to say prayers over the well. I did so…”

    “It didn’t work,” I guessed, although since I knew the well was still haunted, it was a pretty easy guess.

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  • “Toujours” — A Dark Shadows Story

    “Toujours” — A Dark Shadows Story

    by Barb Lien-Cooper

    FOREWORD:

    Like a lot of Dark Shadows fans, I was not a fan of the character of Roxanne Drew. I eventually realized that the reason I had no emotional connection to her was that she had just sort of showed up one day in Parallel Time. Usually, when the DS writers introduced a new character, the new character either had a major tie to the Collins family, or a tie to a character on the show that wasn’t a Collins, or the new character would be a major player in the plot that was going to be introduced. None of this seemed to properly apply to Roxanne. The writers had Barnabas say he was falling in love with her, and we, the viewers, were just supposed to accept that idea.

    I said to my husband once that I had an idea for a story concerning how Roxanne could’ve been introduced to the audience in a way that might have worked better, which is how this story came to be.

    However, much later, as I was writing this story, the idea I had turned into something else: the story of a very unusual friendship.

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  • Fiction: A Hungry Ghosts story: “The Well” PART ONE (of two)

    Fiction: A Hungry Ghosts story: “The Well” PART ONE (of two)

    by Barb Lien-Cooper

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    Kiyoko wasn’t doing well in the battle, and we could all see it. These weren’t just tough peasants with big talk, these were experienced soldiers, and she was a young woman (with her hair cut short, who happened to be passing herself off as a young man). She was not half bad with a sword, not at all, but these were killers, and she lacked the killer instinct.

    “We would gladly share our food with you, sirs. None of this is necessary,” I heard Eisai-sama say, over on my left.

    “We want the magical pouch of rice you carry! Then we would never be hungry!” shouted the leader of the pack of soldiers as he lunged at Eisai-sama, who easily blocked the man with his sword, the legendary Lightning-on-the-Water.

    “…We’re hungry for blood, Takeshi,” the voice of the old man in my head said.

    “Starve yourselves,” I told the old man’s voice in my head, “just like these soldiers starve. Just because you want me to use my sword to kill doesn’t mean I want that…”

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  • “Guidance Counseling” — A Dark Shadows Story

    “Guidance Counseling” — A Dark Shadows Story

    Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes stared into the fire of the drawing room.

    My father is dead, she thought. My husband is dead. But no one cares but me. My mother has gone on with her life, which isn’t surprising, since she and Father separated years ago. My uncle doesn’t care, because he never liked my father nor my husband. Cousin David doesn’t care, because he’s so young—at that age, everything is about him. Cousin Barnabas is too busy spending time with Dr. Hoffman to care, whatever it is that those two do together… Cousin Quentin is too busy dating whoever he’s dating right now to care… Isn’t family supposed to care when someone’s grieving?

    She barely noticed when her uncle Roger came into the room and poured himself a brandy.

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  • OFFICE WORKERS SAVING THE WORLD: DAI-GUARD

    OFFICE WORKERS SAVING THE WORLD: DAI-GUARD

    Park: Okay so what happened was that our internet went out yesterday. Spectrum– and by the way, we’ll be switching to Google Fiber in less than a week because of this, because it’s been happening more and more– Spectrum gave us unstable and then totally missing internet. Well, we played board games a little, but… for some time, I had been planning to re-watch the anime Dai-Guard, because we own the complete show on DVD. Back when Barb and I were in charge of a website called MangaLife, we reviewed things, and so companies would send us manga and DVDs to review. One such company was ADV, based out of Houston, and one such thing they sent us was the anime Dai-Guard. And Dai-Guard is really good in my opinion, but the funny thing is, it’s from the turn of the century (1999, adapted to English in 2002), so when Barb and I watched it, we were comparatively new to all this. Partly because of this: Dai-Guard holds up REALLY well!

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  • A Dark Shadows Story: “Barnabas Collins and the Queen of Swords”

    A Dark Shadows Story: “Barnabas Collins and the Queen of Swords”

    In a room in the basement of the Old House, Barnabas Collins pushed open the lid of his coffin.

    To his surprise, he found, cleverly tied to the side of the lid with twine, a tarot card.

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  • “I” Is Another: Barb And Park Talk About First-Person Narration

    “I” Is Another: Barb And Park Talk About First-Person Narration

    Park: Earlier today, Barb and I were talking about the craft of first-person narration… so, I thought it might be a good topic for a post. So I begin, now, by asking Barb: Who is the best writer you’ve read as far as first-person narration?

    Barb: The first person that comes to mind is Raymond Chandler…

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  • A Dark Shadows Story: “Go Back To Your Grave”

    A Dark Shadows Story: “Go Back To Your Grave”

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    (Author’s Note: Technically, Jeremiah Collins is arguably some sort of zombie/ghost hybrid on Dark Shadows.

    However, I decided to make him more specifically a ghost, because if the characters saw a zombie, they’d probably try to do something about it, like—at the very least—calling Professor Stokes. Since the show gave me enough wiggle room concerning Jeremiah’s corporeality, I chose to make him a wandering spirit who can no longer be seen by the living.)

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    Jeremiah was in the drawing room, sitting dejectedly by the fire.

    Roger Collins and Elizabeth Collins Stoddard were arguing about some business decision Roger wished to make. “Roger,” said Elizabeth, “I am the head of this household, as well as the head of the Collins business empire, so what I say goes. This discussion is at an end.”

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  • What Would Barb Watch?

    What Would Barb Watch?

    Park: Okay so recently someone in my feed said: “I’m feeling a little out of it and I want to binge-watch something, recommendations?” And I hated all the recommendations, except for old Bugs Bunny cartoons. So… I mean, we, ourselves, have recently done old Bugs and Daffy cartoons, and they were still great. But they’re short, so watching the best of them only gets you so far…

    Barb: Okay– recommendations for binge watching: Number one: Backstairs at the White House.

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